Fore right! I’m off today

Hope nothing major happens with your heroes today, because on the Saturday before the third Sunday every July we have our family golf outing. Ten or 11 foursomes of Carp relatives in one place at one time, God help anybody in the neighborhood.

So, like Pauly in the Godfather, you won’t be seeing me no more today. Or at least until sometime tonight, after our apres-golf dinner ends. This also means I’m going to miss the Open Championship today. Byfuglien.

If the Rangers make any noise of any kind, youse will have to get your info from the Twitter Widget and bring it back to the comments section, as usual. You know the drill.

PS, my dad played a round with Vinny Prospal last week. Didn’t get any good info because my dad really didn’t know who he was. He told me today, “I played with a hockey player. I can’t remember his name. He’s a free agent.”

cw – I’d like to take a stab, but I really don’t know where to start. Carp was saying the other day he doesn’t think Boyle will be fourth line, and I’m starting to think he’s right. Stepan is the weakest at faceoffs, so let’s move him over to wing. Rupp, as has been mentioned, is 50 percent in the circle. Let’s move him to center:

Role four lines, even time. Insert Rupp for Fedotenko, then move him up to third for Avery or Zuccarello against highly physical teams.

Staal-Girardi
Sauer-McDonagh
Erixon-???

Bench: Valentenko

Fill the question marks by signing Campoli to a one-year deal, since the Hawks plan to part with him after arbitration in August. If that doesn’t work, McCabe for a one-year deal on the cheap.

I do think something’s bound to happen once Dubinsky and Callahan are signed. Christensen, Wolski and Avery all seem to be odd pieces in the mix, especially with Weise, Zuccarello and Hagelin knocking on the door. My guess is at least two of those six players will be gone before the season starts.

You see Rod, strangely enough I’m not connected enough to have figured out that Dallas are apparently the only team in the league that needs a center.
So the Rangers are kicking the tires on acquiring Loui Eriksson or Jamie Benn, I presume? Leaving us with an exciting game of “Who (Dallas again) needs a LW?” to look forward to soon…””

Haha, are you connected to your brain? I love playing along with this stuff, seeing who they might be after, etc. You guys obviously aren’t, and prefer to catch attitudes. So fine.

The Rangers are one center too many at this point. Truth is, Stepan and Anisimov both deserve second-line minutes, and Boyle assuredly deserves third-line minutes. Rupp is a good faceoff man, but has no business on third line, where Prust and Fedotenko are ostensibly starting.

Meanwhile in Dallas, there’s a dearth of centers and an ownership crisis that has kept the team running on the uber-cheap. Ribeiro will slide in as the top-line center, Ott is good for third-line. There’s an outside chance that eighth-overall pick Scott Glennie makes the team, but penciling him into the second-line position would be ridiculous.

Next we turn to Sweden, where Henrik Lundqvist was just spotted selling shampoo with his twin(a former Dallas Star) and none other than Louie Eriksson, who incidentally played on with Brad Richards just about every other time the guy stepped on the ice last season.

Now between the Rangers’ two young centers, I’d say the more valuable one is Stepan at this point. Anisimov has a tremendous upside though and would probably be just about enough to pique the Stars interest in moving Eriksson, who incidentally plays left wing(as opposed to Gaborik’s right side). We’ve also heard rumors that the Rangers might buy out Wolski, who is in a contract year.

Now let me add a little more fuel to the fire. The Stars also have an expensive piece on defense in Stephane Robidas. He’s a veteran defenseman and would be the oldest guy on the Ranger back line by about eight years. And interestingly enough, he shoots right and is considered a puck-mover. Possibly one who could ‘mentor’ some of the other youngsters back there.

No doubt also, the Rangers have a glut of young talent on the back line and seemingly no place to put them. If you figure the top four defensemen stay(which I think they will) and Erixon starts out at third pairing, what do you do with the likes of Valentenko, Kundratek and Pashnin, all of who shoot left and don’t seem like they’ll have much chance of making the show?

So here’s the deal: Robidas and Eriksson(total cap hit of $7.55 million) for Anisimov, Wolski, Valentenko and Kundratek(total cap hit of $7.3 million if all four players make the team). Stars get markedly younger and reduce their cap(especially if both young defenders are demoted or Wolski is bought out). The Rangers get their ubber line and everything falls into place:

Mind you, I don’t really believe any of this is going to happen. If one of us has thought it up, then you’ve got to believe someone in the Rangers or Stars organizations already had the same thought, kicked it around and dismissed it.

just got home from golfing today also…my low round of the year and tied for low round the past 2 years (90)(45-45, consistent all day)

Carp…I hope you played well today also

too many analytical (and very good) line up guesses to day…but we have too many forwards and are short a Dman so I say we are either trading Wolski or buying him out, and might also trade EC or MZA or MDZ if other teams are high on them

Unless something just falls in the Rangers lap I wouldn’t make a move on D at this point.
I’d consider resigning Eminger, perhaps. Otherwise, go to camp and see what we’ve got.
Even then be patient and let the season progress. We shouldn’t necessarily expect the roster that starts the season to be the finished product. No need to rush things. Too early, still too many questions.

*Mind you, I don’t think Wolski is the answer here. I think we’re going to end up looking outside the organization. More on that below…

**I think this pair makes the most sense. MDZ can use a full year of AHL seasoning; let him show poise and scoring at the AAA level. Erixon is apparently “NHL Ready” and Valentenko is just a beast.

***Eminger showed he could handle the unique challenges of the position and he’s got the puck skills to fill in up and down the lineup. I say bring him back on fair terms.

—————————

So, I don’t think Wolski is the answer… unless the question is “who should we include in a package to bring back a legitimate first liner with size and attitude?”

I think we’ve got enough pieces in place and in reserve (especially on defense) to set our sights pretty high. At the end of the day, we have to remember that there are only six spots and 3-5 of them look to be taken for the long term. These are perishable assets. At some point we gotta move ‘em or lose ‘em.

I’ve heard some people mention Jussi Jokinen as a player coming back. That’d be great. Do we have the assets to get him? What about Alex Burrows? Biting incident notwithstanding, he’s got the skills, plus he could provide the threat of mayhem that allows Richards and Gabby to really do their thing.

I don’t know. Just speculating. There’s GOTTA BE a trade coming. A several for one deal (unless it also includes a serviceable veteran defenseman, which I DON’T think we need but everyone seems to be screaming about).

After missing the playoffs by only one single win, and losing their top center to free agency, I can’t see why they’d even consider moving Eriksson, who’s only 25, and is probably the most important part of the team.

That is exacly my point, Orr….Well said. We can all come with some bright ideas who we would like to have and for what. And it’s nice to have that as a conversation during the dead summer days. I believe it could easily be done without offending each other, though. The truth is, Joe Nieuwendyk isn’t doing anything of that sort. His team is in the middle of changing the ownership. He has to make sure the product is appealing for a prospective buyer. He already lost Richards for nothing. Eriksson, Benn, Morrow and Ribeiro are top 6. Eriksson is 25, and Benn is finishing his EL contract at less then $1M per year. Why would they trade them? Hey, Ovechkin is a left wing too.

ilb,
I know you like AA. I understand why. but if you look unbiasedly at the Rangers roster you would see where the holes are, and where the depth is. they need a goal scoring left wing, and they have depth at center ice. Stepan is a better player than AA, and Boyle makes more sense in a checking role. AA would be the guy to trade if someone were to become available.

Bull dog- it all depends on what the organization thinks about him. Not us. Apparently, they’ve been asked if he is available many times. And so far they said no.. It either means that they have very high hopes for him, or the right deal hasn’t been offered.

ilb,
also I do not think it is premature to say Stepan is better, or going to be better than AA. you can see it now. Stepan has more hockey sense, and is a more talented offensive player. AA is a better skater than Stepan, but I think Stepan overcomes that with his instinct.

Rod
Personally, up until the last thread or two, I think you have been fine here and we all like ranger info. That being said you just CAN NOT get into a jousting match with cccp or lw (or any regular here) and not get hammered on by others (including me) here! So chill out!

So interesting story from here today. My in laws are here (boooooo) and want to go to the farmers market this morning, so I throw on my boogaard shirt I just received and we head out. The market is packed and we are walking around and this guy walks up to me and says “awesome shirt man, terrible thing that caused the shirt to be made though”! I thought it was pretty sweet and mrs wicky gave me a high five and was like you never know where you will run into cool hickey people!

That’s where we have to agree to disagre, bull dog…I believe Anisimov has already shown great sense of positioning’ especially in the defensive zone. He happens to be in the right place more often than not. That’s why Torts plays him in so many different situations, and trusts him. He has also already shown flashes of great offensive ability. I think they believe this part of his game is about to evolve. It’s quite possible that they think those two are their centers for years to come.
Stepan will have to show them he can sustain this level and improve. But in theory, if everything works out, Stepan has higher upside. That’s why they’re projected as 1 and 2.

“I’ve been used to shuffling my whole career,” said Gaborik. “Maybe the reason last year there were so many changes is that I didn’t play well enough, but hopefully Richie and I will be so good together there won’t be any reason to change.”

“The whole unit is important,” said Gaborik, who exchanged text messages with Richards last week after playing phone tag. “Last year was very disappointing, but I’m using that as a learning experience and as motivation.

“Adding someone of Richie’s caliber will make us a better team. I’m very excited about it. I can’t wait to get started.”

On Anisimov – The kid has incredible talent, and he’s improved so vastly from what he was when he first came to the organization. Personally, I think it would be a real shame if they moved him for anything short of the final piece to get to the cup. But the fact remains that Richards is here for the next four or five years, meaning either he or Stepan needs to move to the wing or one of them will be dealt. I do think Stepan is the more talented of the two, but that is by no means a knock on Anisimov. Rather a complement on Stepan. Both of these kids are going to be real good in the near future. As for a slip? Not likely at all. Just look at what Stepan did in the Worlds. The kid was probably USA’s best forward.

Wicky – I’m 90 percent certain Pashnin is expected to hop the pond this year. I believe his KHL contract ran out last season. As for trading a player facing arbitration, hell yeah you can. That’s what Edmonton just did with Cogliano. And that’s probably what Chicago will do with Campoli.

On the Campoli note, I agree with all those who say he’s worth a look. Solid defenseman with decent puck-moving ability. But he made $1.4 million last year and is rumored to be seeking $3 million this year. Knock a million off that sticker price and I’d be all over it.